Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1194 Siege
The farce just passed like that. Yuan Xi didn't even have time to think about these trivial matters, so he set off with his army.

The current situation did not allow him to wait any longer. News came from various places that Cao's army had begun to intensify its offensive and launched a fierce counterattack on fronts all over the country.

At the confrontation points in Jizhou, Qingzhou and Yuzhou, the Jin army was suppressed in a short period of time, especially Wei Yan's army, who was blocked in Ruyang city by Le Jin who had reorganized his troops.

The Cao army, which had several times the number of troops, surrounded Ruyang City and attacked fiercely day and night. When the situation was dangerous, the Cao army climbed up to the top of the city several times. Wei Yan had to personally brave the arrows and stones and lead his troops to block the attack.

He even had a fight with Le Jin on the top of the city wall. Le Jin was short in stature, but agile and fierce in moves. He had been the most famous general in Cao's camp for several years. When he climbed to the top of the city wall during the attack, he ran into Wei Yan.

When Wei Yan saw Le Jin's attire, he knew that he was an enemy general, so he immediately strode up to him and chopped him down on the head with his ring-handled sword. However, Le Jin did not block it head-on, but shook the iron spear in his hand and stabbed it straight at Wei Yan's throat.

He was short in stature but was using a long weapon. When Wei Yan saw this, he became alert in his heart, knowing that the man didn't have the ability and wouldn't dare to use it like that.

So when he saw the iron spear coming at him, he took out his knife to block it. However, Le Jin squatted down slightly, stood on the top of the city wall, turned around, and the iron spear made a circle, with a whistling sound, and swung it towards Wei Yan's face from the opposite direction!

Seeing this, Wei Yan did not retreat but advanced. He moved very quickly. With only two steps, he rushed into the inner circle of the spear and slashed Le Jin's knee with his ring-handled sword.

Le Jin immediately jumped up high, turned his iron spear, and smashed it straight at Wei Yan's forehead. Wei Yan had been hitting low and high, and he also got angry, so he leaped onto the top of the city wall, with the tip of his knife pointing obliquely at the falling Le Jin, and was about to pierce him from bottom to top.

Wei Yan was ready to withstand the blow and exchange his injury for his life, but Le Jin twisted his waist and threw the iron spear straight at Wei Yan, then drew the short knife from his waist and stabbed him straight down!

Seeing Le Jin's response, Wei Yan guessed that he had forced the opponent to use a trick, but the opponent's attack distance was too close, and he could not handle the iron spear and the short sword at the same time. Knowing that the opponent had been luring him into the trap step by step, he had to jump backwards to avoid the iron spear and the short sword.

Le Jin fell down, but was about to reach out to grab the iron spear. At this time, the wind was whistling. When he looked up, he saw Wei Yan throwing the ring-handled sword at him instead and picking up the spear on the ground.

Le Jin knew that the other party was imitating him. After a few moves, he had seen that the other party was no less powerful than himself. Now he could not do anything to him. This time the siege was hindered. Without hesitation, he stepped back and slid down the ladder.

When Wei Yan saw this, he immediately led his soldiers to clear the top of the city wall. When he saw Cao's army retreating, he looked back at his own soldiers who had suffered heavy casualties on the city wall, and felt quite aggrieved.

His surprise attack on Ruyang was successful, but it was not easy to defend the city. Moreover, because he went down the city alone, he was disconnected from the rear army. After the city was besieged, he was suppressed by the concentrated forces of Cao's army and was unable to break out.

Now Qin Yi and other generals are blocked in the south by Cao Xiu and his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and are unable to support Ruyang. Cao's army is still sending more troops. If this continues, he is afraid that he will be trapped and die in Ruyang City!
After Le Jin returned to the camp, he counted the troops and found that there were nearly a thousand casualties in the siege. However, in such a large battle, this number of people was not enough to fill the line, and it was not even considered a loss for Cao's army, which was fully reorganized.

Now the entire Yuzhou has been mobilized, and conscripted soldiers are rushing to Ruyang continuously. Le Jin estimates that in another ten days, Ruyang City will be completely dragged down.

By then, he would enter the city and kill all the enemies, then turn around and attack the rear of the Jin army, and then fight his way to the Huai River in one go, threatening Shouchun. Then the siege of Yuzhou would be completely lifted!

As for whether he could stop the subsequent reinforcements of the Jin army, Le Jin was still very confident. As Cao Xiu was the best among Cao's generals, if he couldn't even stop Yuan Shu's second-rate old generals, then his reputation would be in vain.

Le Jin's guess was correct. Now that Cao Xiu had a mixed force of infantry and cavalry, they had beaten Qin Yi and Qi Ji, who had come to support them, so badly that they could not raise their heads. The two of them were guarding the camp with the Jianghuai soldiers. Not to mention attacking, even defending was quite difficult.

The two men were depressed. Not to mention that there was indeed a gap in their abilities compared to Cao Xiu and Le Jin, there were also some shortcomings in the quality of their troops.

The Jianghuai soldiers they led were not outstanding among the troops in the world, and the most elite ones were taken away by Lu Xun to attack Jingzhou. The rest were either slightly weaker or veterans. Finally, the three thousand most powerful men were divided to follow Wei Yan to attack Ruyang, so the remaining people's combat effectiveness became even weaker.

It can be said that the two of them, with these soldiers, were already performing above their normal level in being able to defend against Cao Xiu, not to mention breaking through the encirclement to rescue Wei Yan.

Qi Ji looked depressed and said to Qin Yi, "It's so hard to have a fight, but we ran into a tough guy. What bad luck!"

Qin Yi sighed, "Tough guy?"

"Even if we defeat Cao Xiu, we still have Le Jin behind us, who is even more powerful than Cao Xiu!"

Qi Ji was speechless and said, "So, we can't beat anyone?"

Qin Yi was quite single and asked, "What do you think?"

"The battle for the world is already halfway over, and the outcome is about to be decided. The remaining generals have all been through the test of time, so which one is easy to deal with?"

"Who can we compare with now?"

Qi Ji was speechless. Just as he was about to speak, the sound of shouting and killing started again outside. The guards rushed in and said, "Report!" "Cao's army is attacking again, with more people than last time!"

The two men's faces changed and they rushed out to meet the enemy. They climbed up the wooden building and looked at the dark mass of Cao's army rushing towards them. They groaned in their hearts, knowing that Cao's reinforcements had arrived.

After all, Yuzhou was the territory of Cao's army, and it was extremely easy to recruit soldiers locally. After receiving the conscription order, each county could replenish Cao Xiu with new soldiers every day. So this time, after Cao Xiu waited for the reinforcements to arrive, he made a comeback and launched a full-scale attack.

He now has the upper hand over the Jin army in terms of both battle formation and number of soldiers. Cao Xiu is also very proud to see that the situation on the field is very good. It seems that he can win before Le Jin this time, and then turn around and join forces with Le Jin to massacre Ruyang City together. This time the task assigned to him by Cao Cao is successfully completed!
With a shout, he led thousands of Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and tens of thousands of soldiers to launch a fierce attack on the Jin army camp. Within half a day, the defense line of the Jin army camp was broken everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before it collapsed completely.

Qi Ji said to Qin Yi: "It is impossible to do anything. Let's retreat first. With this kind of troops, we can't win, let alone advance!"

Qin Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Then General Wei in Ruyang City..."

Qi Ji said helplessly: "What else can we do? If we can't defeat him, we can't defeat him. If we stay here, we will just be buried with him."

Qin Yi sighed, thought for a while, and finally made up his mind to withdraw. At this moment, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the horizon behind him.

Qi Ji followed Qin Yi's gaze, carefully identified it, and suddenly said in a lost voice: "Is that a balloon?"

Qin Yi stared at the distance to identify it, and finally a look of relief appeared on his face. He said to Qi Ji: "That's right!"

"Pass on my order, hold on tightly, things will definitely turn around!"

Cao Xiu was charging at the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the front. The wooden fences of the camp in front had been completely destroyed and removed by the Wei army. Although there was a small group of Jin troops trying their best to block the gap, Cao Xiu led the cavalry to rush in and defeated them all. Finally, this line of defense was completely broken.

Cao Xiu raised his sword and killed the Jin army infantry general in front of him, then rode his horse left and right in the camp as if he was in an empty space.

Seeing the Jin army fleeing in all directions, Cao Xiu chased them relentlessly. When he rushed into the center of the camp, he found that the Jin army had almost run away, so he led everyone back and wanted to get out through the gap.

But at this moment, a horn sounded, and a dense rain of arrows flew over, killing dozens of the unsuspecting Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Cao Xiu saw that the arrows were coming from outside and became furious. Did the other party deliberately trick him in?
Just a trifle! I’m going to kill you all!
He waved his hand and shouted, "Go out and kill them all!"

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry let out a shout, followed Cao Xiu and rushed out of the gap, rushing towards the direction where the arrows were coming from.

As the distance got closer, many people showed expressions of astonishment on their faces, because what they saw was an army whose flags they had never seen before!
On the several-mile-long battle line, there were tens of thousands of Jin troops who had just arrived. Dozens of flags were fluttering in the wind. The flags of generals Lu, Huang, Wen and others were erected in the front, and on the big flag of the central army, the word "Yuan" was clearly written!
Cao Xiu was shocked. How could the enemy, with so many people, approach so quietly without his spies being able to raise any alarm?
He had a bad feeling in his heart, but he was in a dilemma. If he turned around and ran away, he would definitely be caught up and wiped out by the enemy. His only choice now was to fight the enemy head-on!

Looking at the number of enemies, they are not much different from ours. Now the Wei army has won battles in a row and their morale is high. It is impossible for us to not defeat the enemy!
Thinking of this, Cao Xiu roared, "Follow me!"

He led the cavalry and headed straight for the center of the Jin army, braving the arrows, with the intention of killing the general and seizing the flag!

The Jin army immediately issued an order, and Cao Xiu saw that the enemy's two flags with yellow and text written on them were moving.

In front of the flag were two majestic generals, one holding a long sword and the other holding a broadsword, and they were running towards Cao Xiu quickly!

As soon as Cao Xiu saw it, he knew that the other side wanted to strangle the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. He shouted angrily: "There is no need to fight them one by one. Kill them together. If you kill the commander, you will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins!"

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry roared angrily and followed Cao Xiu to rush forward violently.

Huang Zhong and Wen Pin followed Yuan Xi on their journey day and night, and finally arrived at the battlefield in time. Seeing Cao Xiu's appearance, Huang Zhong said to Wen Pin, "It seems that we can't fight him alone."

"Then we don't need to talk about morality, right?"

Wen Pin smiled and said, "That's right, there are no rules on the battlefield. The only rule is to do everything you can to take the other party's head!"

The two men shouted at the same time, and led their subordinates to collide fiercely with Cao Xiu, starting a fierce fight.

In the center of the Jin army, Yuan Xi said to Lu Xun, "Seal off the battlefield and make sure that the Wei generals cannot escape."

"From today on, kill every Wei general you meet and never let them go back."

(End of this chapter)